(Courtesy Saint Louis Athletics)
Six student-athletes, led by senior center fielder Lindsay Friedman, earned Atlantic 10 Conference softball postseason honors as announced today by the league office.
Friedman was selected to the All-Conference first team for a second consecutive year in balloting conducted by A-10 head coaches. Junior pitcher/designated player Brianna Lore, sophomore shortstop Alex Nickel and freshman left fielder Josie Knesel were named to the second team.
Knesel and freshman second baseman Allie Macfarlane garnered All-Rookie recognition. The Billikens have produced two All-Rookie choices in three straight and five of the last seven years.
Friedman also repeated on the All-Academic team, chosen by the conference’s softball sports information representatives, and was joined by junior third baseman Elizabeth Everingham. Saint Louis has had two All-Academic selections six times in 10 years of A-10 membership, including the past two seasons.
Friedman is only the second player in SLU softball history to earn A-10 first-team accolades twice, joining Kristin Nicoletti (2010 and 2011). Her selection gives the Billikens at least one first-team honoree in three straight and five of the past six seasons.
The selection of Friedman, Lore, Nickel and Knesel gives Saint Louis four first- or second-team All-Conference players for the first team in program history.
A starter in all 52 games, Friedman carries a .286 batting average. She leads the team in stolen bases (18 in 20 attempts) and hit-by-pitch (15), ranks second in home runs (10), RBIs (45), runs (51) and total bases (84), and is third in on-base percentage (.437) and walks (27). In the final A-10 regular-season statistics, Friedman was second in RBIs, runs and hit-by-pitch, tied for fourth in home runs, sixth in walks, tied for sixth in stolen bases and seventh in total bases.
Friedman, who was named A-10 Player of the Week March 10, also has eight doubles, a triple and a .545 slugging percentage. She set Billiken career records for RBIs (123) and walks (92) this season and increased her school record for home runs to 29 after taking over the top spot last year. Also, Friedman needs just four runs and 13 total bases to become SLU’s career best in those categories. Her 10 homers, 45 RBIs and 51 runs are season records for a Saint Louis senior.
Lore owns an 18-9 record, a 2.62 ERA and three shutouts, including her second career no-hitter against Kennesaw State March 6. She also has excelled at the plate, ranking second on the team in batting average (.336) with four home runs, 30 RBIs, eight doubles, a triple, 25 walks (tied for seventh in the A-10), a .434 on-base percentage and a .486 slugging percentage.
The left-hander, who was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week March 10, leads the A-10 in starts (31) and also ranks among the league leaders in wins (tied for second), strikeouts (third, 136), innings (third, 170 2/3), complete games (third, 17), shutouts (tied for third) and ERA (fifth). She has struck out 41 and walked only three in her last 51 1/3 innings.
Lore established SLU career records this season for wins (57) and starts (102), and she needs just 16 1/3 innings to become the career standard bearer. Her 18 wins and 31 starts this year are the most by a Billiken junior.
Nickel has hit safely in all but seven games this year while assaulting the Saint Louis record book. She set school season marks for home runs (11), total bases (118), runs (56) and walks (38), as well as the program’s single-game record of five hits at Rhode Island April 3. Nickel needs just three hits and three doubles to break school records in those categories.
A two-time A-10 Player of the Week and a starter in every game, Nickel also leads the Billikens in batting average (.430, third in the A-10), multi-hit games (18), on-base percentage (.536, third) and slugging percentage (.715, fourth). She tops the conference in hits (71), runs, total bases and walks, ranks second in assists (129), and is tied for second in home runs and doubles (14).
Nickel also has 32 RBIs – needing just two to set a Saint Louis record for sophomores – and 10 stolen bases, and her 15-game hitting streak is a team high. She ranks 36th in on-base percentage, 37th in runs per game (1.08) and 50th in walks per game (0.73) in this week’s NCAA Division I national statistics.
Knesel has appeared in 40 games with 25 starts, most of which have come during the second half of the season. Her .352 batting average since April 1 has raised her season average to .312.
Knesel has two home runs, 11 RBIs, three doubles, a triple and a .455 slugging percentage. In conference games, she ranked second on the team in batting average (.391) and slugging percentage (.543).
Macfarlane has started all 49 games in which she has appeared. She leads the A-10 with a school-record 50 RBIs – 33 of which have come with two outs – and has a team-high 13 multi-RBI games. Macfarlane owns a .329 batting average and has set SLU freshman records of eight home runs (tied for eighth in the A-10), 30 walks (fifth) and 83 total bases (tied for eighth). With 49 hits, she needs just five more to break the Billiken freshman mark.
A two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week, Macfarlane is tied for second on the team and tied for ninth in the conference with 10 doubles. She ranks second on the team in on-base percentage (.442) and third in slugging percentage (.557). Macfarlane has hit two grand slams, set a Billiken single-game record with four walks at Massachusetts May 3, and tied a school single-game mark with two home runs vs. Fordham March 22.
Everingham has produced a .314 batting average while starting every game. She leads the team in sacrifice flies (three, tied for third in the A-10); is second in hits (53, tied for ninth) and hit-by-pitch (10, tied for third, SLU junior record); ranks third in runs (33); and is tied for third in RBIs (32) and total bases (83, tied for eighth).
Everingham has seven home runs, including a school-record-tying two vs. Austin Peay March 6, as well as nine doubles, 17 walks, a .402 on-base percentage and a .491 slugging percentage. She is third on the team with 14 multi-RBI games and enjoyed an eight-game hitting streak.
Saint Louis (36-16, 18-5 A-10) is the No. 2 seed for the 2015 Atlantic 10 Conference Softball Championship and will face either Fordham or St. Bonaventure in the second round Thursday, May 7, at the University of Massachusetts’ Sortino Field in Amherst, Mass. First pitch is slated for 1:30 p.m. (CT).
The Billikens, who set school records for total wins and conference winning percentage (.783), are making their third consecutive A-10 Championship appearance and seventh in 10 years of league membership. The 2014 and 2007 Billikens have made the program’s most successful tournament runs, finishing second to Fordham and Massachusetts, respectively.
